Re: Wikipedia at 25: A Wake-Up Call (essay)

Facts states (worldwide figures):

*Donation is up

*Number of new pages is up [1]

*number of edits från users is up [2}

That is not figures of a crises

The 20% decrease represent a different way of accessing info. we have to 
learn how to adjust to these changes but is is NOT a general crises,

Anders

[1] 
https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/new-pages/normal|bar|2-year|page_type~content|monthly

[2] 
https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/edits/normal|bar|2-year|editor_type~user+(page_type)~content|monthly

Den 2026-04-28 kl. 17:31, skrev Christophe Henner via Wikimedia-l:
> Hi,
>
> 3 months later, a new statistic: mobile page views dropped by 19% in 
> one year.
>
> We are back to the mobile traffic levels of 2018.
> https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-projects/reading/total-page-views/normal|bar|2016-01-01~2026-04-28|(access)~mobile-app*mobile-web+agent~user|monthly 
> <https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-projects/reading/total-page-views/normal%7Cbar%7C2016-01-01~2026-04-28%7C(access)~mobile-app*mobile-web+agent~user%7Cmonthly>
>
> At this rate, our mobile traffic in 2026 will be at the levels of 
> pre-2013. 2013...
>
> In the meantime, Ericsson is reporting a global mobile usage growth of 
> over 20%
> https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/mobility-report/dataforecasts/mobile-traffic-update
>
> When I published my essay, I mostly received gentle to aggressive push 
> back. Back then I was displaying a 8% drop. Now a 20% year over year.
>
> Why did I pick mobile traffic? Because historically bots are less 
> using desktop browser UAs which makes the data a bit more reliable for 
> trends.
>
> 3 months ago I said we had 24 months ahead of us before irrelevancy. 
> Well at this rate, in two years we will have lost half of our traffic. 
> And the sad part is that those downhill trends tend not to slow down.
>
> And what now? Well being very blunt, there's only one body in our 
> movement that can muster leadership, energy and resources to tackle 
> this topic head on, that's the board of trustees.
>
> And if 20% doesn't trigger fast and real actions, I have no idea what 
> would.
>
> PS: yes this email is written with a lot of emotion, but minus 20% YoY 
> should trigger that reaction in everyone.
>
> --
> Christophe
>
>
> On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 at 00:40, Christophe Henner 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>     Hey everyone,
>
>     I struggled with the object, the most honest one would be "Last
>     exit before irrelevance" but that would be a bit violent.
>
>     So, Wikipedia turns 25 next week. I've been here for over twenty
>     of those years, including stints chairing Wikimedia France and the
>     Foundation Board. And honestly? I'm worried. Scared to be honnest.
>
>     Over the last years, I've been regularly crunching data and
>     sharing on different channels my worries. But in the last few
>     weeks I decided to make a much more structured "essay" of my findings
>
>     Since 2016, the internet nearly doubled in size.
>
>     Our page views? Down. New editor sign-ups? Down 36%.
>
>     The people keeping this thing running are working harder than
>     ever, but there are fewer of them every year.
>
>     I wrote it all up: the numbers, what I think went wrong, what I
>     think we need to do about it. Fair warning: it's long, it's
>     opinionated, and some of it will probably make you mad.
>
>     *Here it is: *https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Schiste/what-now
>
>     I'm not trying to be doom and gloom for the sake of it. I
>     genuinely believe we have maybe two years to make some hard calls
>     about AI, about money, about who we're actually serving. After
>     that, the window closes and we become irrelevant.
>
>     Could be wrong. Hope I am. But I'd rather we have this argument
>     now than wish we had later. Well I'd rather we had this argument
>     two or four years ago, but now we will make do.
>
>     Read it, tell me where I'm off base. Let's argue and debate.
>     That's what talk pages are for, right?
>
>     PS: Foundation board mailing list is bcc'ed, change cannot happen
>     without their commitment. And fast.
>
>     --
>
>     Christophe
>
>
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